Daydreaming of Disney Blog

Last week I posted a DIY Mickey Ear tutorial and the response that I received from it was so supportive that I thought I'd continue the tutorial trend and share how I cover my headbands to match the DIY Mickey Ears that I make.

I've made around twenty different pairs of Mickey Ears so far and being able to customize the headband as well as the ears just makes them look so much more professional. Also, this tutorial doesn't involve any sewing! Bonus!

So I hope you like this, and feel free to share your creations with me via email or in the comment section at the end of this post. I love seeing all the different ways that crafters personalize their ears!

First, gather the listed tools and materials.

A headband (I recommend a hard headband that’s around 2 cm wide)

The fabric of your choice

A ribbon of any color (try to find one that's between ⅜” and ½” wide)

Scissors

Hot Glue gun

In this example, I’m going to take a purple headband and cover it in white fabric, so that I can use it to make a set of Olaf mickey ears. Let's get started!

First, remove anything you can from your headband, such as fabric or decorations. The smoother your headband starts out, the cleaner the end result will be. You might even need to break out the sandpaper to get your headband as smooth as possible.

The headband I’m using was covered in a purple satin, so I stared by removing that so all that was left was the plastic.

Next you’ll want to cut a rectangle of fabric. This rectangle should be about three times the width of your headband and a little bit longer than the length.

Here is a photo of the rectangle that I cut for reference.

You can roll your headband to approximate how long of a rectangle you need. Just cut it slightly longer than where the headband falls.

Before we start gluing the fabric, I should note that all glue will be placed on the inside of the headband. If you find yourself gluing the outside, you've done something wrong. This is to ensure that the outside edge remains smooth, since that's the side that people will see.

First, line up one end of your headband with the center of one end of the fabric. Place a dot of hot glue on the inside end of the headband and fold the fabric over onto the glue, like the image below.

By starting with glueing the edge down like this, we ensure that the ends will be clean and won't fray.

Now start by slowly gluing one side of the fabric to the headband. Do this in chunks and work your way around the headband. Only put down about an inch of glue and then fold the fabric over onto it. Then move on to the next inch.

As you're doing this, make sure that your headband is still in the middle of the fabric. As you're working your way around, it can have a tendency to veer off to one side.

Here I've started at the end that I just folded over, I've put an inch of glue down, and I've folded the edge of the fabric over it.

Once you've completed a whole side, simply fold and glue the end the same way that you did the other end, and then work your way up the other side inch by inch. Since you already have one side completed, the second side should go a lot smoother.

Here you can see that I've finished one side and I've had to crimp the fabric in spots in order to keep the headband in the middle. This is okay because the crimps are on the inside and therefore they won't be seen. Just make sure that you don't have an crimps on the outside of your headband.

Working my way around the second edge!

Once you finish with the fabric, this is what your headband should look like! Looks pretty good, but we still need to cover up those frayed edges on the inside.

Lastly, take your ribbon and cut a strip that's approximately 16" long. (You can use the same rolling technique that you used to determine the length of the fabric. Just give yourself a little extra just in case)

Simply glue this ribbon along the inside of the headband to cover up the exposed fabric edges. Start by gluing on end and then work your way around in one inch sections like you did for the fabric.

You'll most likely have excess ribbon at the end, so just trim that off and you're good to go.

Here I've started to glue the ribbon on the inside of the headband. Notice how I've given myself a long piece of ribbon to work with. It's better to give yourself too much ribbon and then trim it down at the end, than to run out halfway around your headband.

I made this pair into an Olaf themed pair using an orange bow and black and brown felt details.

I love making Mickey Ears because the creative possibilities are endless! Choose your favorite Disney character and you can easily design a set of ears inspired by them. Or, if you're still a beginner, simply prick out a fabric that you like and sew up a simple pair of ears. They'll still look super cute as you're wandering around the parks.

Be sure to share your designs with me! I love to see your creativity! Also, feel free to email me or post in the comments below if you have any additional questions.

And if you love DIY Mickey Ears be sure to follow my DIY Mickey Ears board on Pinterest for crafting inspiration.

Thanks,

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Monica Toren

Monica Toren is a blogger for the Daydreaming of Disney Blog and a college architecture student at Carnegie Mellon University.

Welcome!

Hi! I'm Monica and I started the Daydreaming of Disney Blog to share Disney crafts, Disney vacation tips, and any other sides of my Disney obsession. I post weekly, so be sure to stop back often for new content! Read more...

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